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Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief ministerial candidate C.V. Wigneswaran’s recent comment to ‘The Hindu’ that Tamil Nadu politicians used the Sri Lankan Tamil issue for their own gains, much to the detriment of the Tamils in Sri Lanka was indeed a rare show of courage as it came from a Tamil politician whose is not an ally of the government.

It was courageous as it has all the potential to invite the wrath of not only Tamil Nadu politicians but also that of the Tamil diaspora which still has some degree of influence in shaping the Sri Lankan Tamil leaders’ mindset. It also has the potential to rekindle the anti- Wigneswaran sentiment that existed in some circles of the Northern Tamils at the time he was nominated as TNA’s chief ministerial candidate.

In Tamil Nadu, two or three political parties have often used the Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic issue as a ball to be played in the political tennis court.  It is no secret that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jeyalalithaa and former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi use the Sri Lankan Tamil issue just to outsmart each other politically.  Having correctly judged their moves, the former Supreme Court judge has made this remark regardless of whatever provocation it might cause even among his own brethren.

Jeyalalithaa who is now pushing hard for an international investigation on the alleged war crimes by the Sri Lankan armed forces  said at the height of the war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in late 2008 that ‘civilian deaths were inevitable in a war’.  During the same period, Mr. Karunanidhi too said that he was “sick of the LTTE” due to its ruthless conduct.

"It was courageous as it has all the potential to invite the wrath of not only Tamil Nadu politicians but also that of the Tamil diaspora"

“They [Tamil Nadu politicians] start hitting the ball from one side to the other and it is we who get hit by that,” Wigneswaran has said. Explaining what he meant by “we who get hit,” he said when politicians in Tamil Nadu say separation is the only solution, a majority of the Sinhala people fear  that Tamils would collaborate with India to form a separate state.

The basis of this fear is acceptable to a large extent when one considers the actions of some Tamil Nadu politicians in the past. Their extreme conduct could have led to equally extremist conduct in Sri Lanka had it not been for the self-restraint the Sri Lankans at large had shown.

 A clear case in point for this show of restraint was the patient reaction of the Sri Lankans as a nation in the face of the infuriating attacks carried out on Sri Lankan pilgrims and Buddhist monks who visited Tamil Nadu some time ago.
Considering this, the former Supreme Court judge has to be commended for his advice to the Tamil Nadu leaders as he envisages their contribution to the crisis must be one that is progressive and broad-minded rather than one that triggers hatred and apathy.

However, it is time that he attempted to convince some leaders of his own party of the same sensible fact as they had reportedly made hate speeches recently during their election campaigns in the North provoking petty communalism.
This conduct pursued by C.V. Wigneswaran’s own party men might present a gloomy aspect against the sensible perspective he seeks to promote on resolving the ethnic issue. Such hate speeches, accompanied by the veneration and glorification of the LTTE, might once again take the Tamil youth along the violent path which was tried but failed wreaking destruction on the whole nation in general.